La nuit sanglante

Horror? Hahaha! This is a trashy so-called thriller that is slightly reminiscent of Hitchcock's Psycho. Only that this one is totally predictable and full of gore. Gerald McRaney gives a good performance, but it doesn't save the film from mediocrity. There is almost no suspense, in fact waiting to see if the next scene is worse than the one you are watching is far more suspenseful. Really, one would try hard to find a movie with more fake special effects than this one; the sound is often unsynchronized, while the red paint you keep in the basement would have worked better in the gore scenes! Anyway, this one's for the cult trash fans, like me.

3

...but contains some great library music (from the synth-noise opening theme to the bloodcurdling string arrangement played over the dream sequence near the film's end) and is full of cheap, dingy atmosphere. Gerald McRaney of "Simon and Simon" and "Major Dad" delivers a ridiculously overwrought performance as Wesley, a grumpy, balding young fella prone to crippling headaches. His girlfriends are being bumped off one after another, the police are leaning on him, and Wesley's corpse-faced mother obviously harbors a deep resentment for her troubled son. What's going on? Is Wesley a killer? You'll have the story figured out less than halfway through the film. "Night of Bloody Horror" offers up quite a few tasty morsels for bad-movie fans, including a lengthy nightclub scene featuring The Bored (a six- or seven-man psychedelic ensemble with the worst vocalist ever) and a wonderful moment in which Wesley's mother harangues him for "having no respect". McRaney has taken all the maternal abuse he can withstand; he twists his face into a disgusted grimace and snarls, "Why? For god's sake...WHY?!" before storming out of the room. William Shatner would be proud!

Pretty good low budget regional horror flick from the director of the classic 'Creature From Black Lake'. It does have some problems, though; Gerald McRaney's acting job does a complete meltdown every so often, there's the psychedelic music video intermission and just why the heck do all those hot chicks fall instantly head over heels for this suspected serial killer?! On the plus side; it moves along at a good pace and director Houck keeps the camera moving. It also contains some ahead of it's time violent murders (including a twisted confessional scene). All in all it's above average and well worth a look to horror/exploitation fans. Tis a shame there wasn't more flicks lensed in good ol' Violent Vision!

This was another of those cheap low-budget horror movies I remember seeing in newspaper ads or television commercials on late night as a child in the '70s and wondering what they would be like. The version I watched on YouTube was a little faded and washed out but I saw clearly enough to understand what was going on and enjoy a little. I say a little since with the running time being about ninety minutes, there's not enough time to give too deep characterizations as to motive for the various murders that happen here. As the lead suspect, a young Gerald McRaney is pretty adequate in one of his earliest roles (though he must have considered himself the luckiest man with the women he kissed here). There's also a nightclub scene with a local rock band called The Bored that has a few sixties moments like having some frames printed in negative form with some painted colors added. (and can you dig the cyclone-like special effects that depicts McRaney's "migranes"?) Despite the tagline being "Keep telling yourself, It's only a picture, only a picture...", I don't think the few gore scenes were all that scary, in fact, they looked a bit fake. So on that note, Night of Bloddy Horror is no great shakes though it's not completely boring either. P.S. The theatre that was playing this movie in the late '70s (and perhaps the late '60s as well when this was first released) was the now-defunct Joy's Robert E. Lee one which had four screens during a time when most cinemas in our area had just two. The movie house I just mentioned was perhaps one of 200 owned by one Joy N. Houck, Sr. whose son, Joy Jr., was this film's director. By the way, my neighboring city New Orleans (where Joy Jr. was born) was the location used for filming.

Night of Bloody Horror is certainly not accurately named, but if you get into the atmosphere of '60s and '70s low budget exploitation films, then you'll probably enjoy this campy Psycho copy. There's some great music, some performed in club scenes by a noisy psychedelic band called The Bored; and great kitschy visual effects, like the swirling lights Wesley sees before a murder happens. Plus it has that wonderful, sickly faded color that is a must for any great "psychotronic" movie.

The film starts slow, but reveals Wesley's haunted past little by little through creepy childhood flashbacks while simultaneously establishing the unhealthy relationship he has with his bitter, domineering mother. It doesn't keep all of its secrets well, but the sick revelation of the ending is memorable and entertaining. There's a lot of cheese value, but underneath it all is a decent little psychological horror movie.